Reflecting on the past 7 weeks

It has been nearly a week since I have been at camp, so, I have had a lot of time to reflect on my time there and offer you a recap. From the very first day of the trip I knew God had something crazy in mind for the summer, and a reason for having me personally there. That first day (see the post from June 28th) I had little doubt that God wanted me there. I missed my plane because I misread the reservation, I know it does not get much blonder than that. I did not know why that was important immediately perhaps for humbling before camp started, but on the last plane ride I found out why. There were two hurting people going to Saskatoon they had lost a family member and another was missing. I had the opportunity to pray for them. An opportunity I would have missed if I had not missed my flight. Staff training I was reunited with some old pals and got to see the beginnings of an awesome staff that was truly hand picked by God. Teen week was well a stretch at best, but interesting. We (my co-counselor Brittany and I) had some great conversations with our teen campers, though they were not convinced completely about why dressing modestly is important. I also got to have a continuing conversation with a girl who I had as a repeat camper. Teen camp was, hmmm... unique. The first week of kid's camp was stressful, but definitely a worthwhile week. Halfway through the week I prayed that God would give me a heart like His, I did not fully understand what I was getting myself into. When our girls wanted to all accept Jesus into their hearts I found myself giddy with excitement, however, when two of our girls left that Wednesday I cried over them (even though one of them had been a nuisance). The next week was what I hoped would be a welcome break, but it was quite the opposite. The first morning three of us prayed dangerous prayers. I prayed for our faith to be strengthened, Brittany prayed for an amazing and unforgettable for the kids, and another girl, Julianne, prayed for God to show His power. That afternoon God answered. A storm came there was a funnel cloud, hail, and lightning, but after we gathered in prayer again, we saw God remove the storm from us. Sounds like an amazing day, but it was not over. One of the girls also on the dish washing crew wanted to go home, but when we offered to pray for her she turned and ran. We followed her in the car, eventually I got out and walked with her, and what can be only attributed to the fear of God (no joke) she got in the car only to go home the next day. The third week I was unwillingly placed in a cabin, but it was an awesome week. The last night our girls came to us asking for us to show them how to become Christians, not all of them accepted Jesus that night, but I know the ones who did were sincere. The last week of kid's camp was stretching in more ways then I could imagine. That was the week I spoke for chapels, and the week that God decided to really teach me what reaching the unreached people groups would be like. There was a deaf boy there who knew no American Sign Language, apart from the alphabet. Worse still was that he knew nothing about Jesus, a few of us got the opportunity to work one on one with him via pen and paper (as he could read and write) and teach him about God. He did not accept Jesus, but our job as Christians is not to "save people" our job is to sow seeds. The last week was discipleship week where God shoved me out of my comfort zone yet again during devotions. The girls went to the basement for devotions and God put it on my heart to share with them about my 4 and a half year struggle with purity, that was the first time I had ever said the entire story out loud in front of anyone. I am still not entirely sure why that needed to be said. On the way home, reflecting on the trip, God revealed an issue that I think many of us have whether we know it or not. The issue is tunnel vision. Many Christians are so caught up on a small perspective, a narrow view if you will that we miss important things. We may be stuck in the current circumstance that we fail to ask, "How can God use this for His glory?" or we may be stuck focusing on our own issues that we fail to see the hurting people around us. If I may be blunt with you I would like to point out that our current hurts, struggles, and sufferings are minimal in comparison to eternity Paul wrote on that nearly 2000 years ago. God gives us the opportunity to love other people fully by allowing what we are going through to matter less. This is something I struggle with daily. I find myself saying, "Because of this hurt I am incapable of loving someone else." In essence we are self-absorbed at times. I have found that often times God will allow us to go through some tragedy and gives us the opportunity to share with others the good news because we have not lived perfect lives. A recent event in my life should have been traumatizing, and I suppose at first it was, but because I have not and will not allow it to define the rest of my life , and there is crazy joy that is still in my heart despite it, I have been able to reach out to other people going through the same thing. I still wish it had not happened, but I am grateful for the opportunities to share God's love that have come from it. So this is my challenge to you, a challenge given to me this summer. In the morning as you are going through your routine, perhaps having your alone time with God, pray and ask for an opportunity to share God's love with someone. Also look beyond your circumstance.